Ousted Venezuela Chief May Be Close to Return

By GINGER THOMPSON and JUAN FORERO

Published: April 14, 2002

CARACAS, Venezuela, April 13—
Thirty hours after an interim government forced the populist president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, from power, his loyalists pushed hard tonight and seemed on the verge of staging a comeback.

The stunning reversal was buoyed by support from thousands of demonstrators who took their outrage over Mr. Chávez's ouster to the streets, staging protests that often turned into violent clashes with police.

By nightfall, the throngs had pressed into the presidential palace, securing it for the safe return of Mr. Chávez's cabinet. The president of the short-lived interim government, Pedro Carmona Estanga, left his post, while more than a dozen of his appointees were held in the basement of the presidential compound. State-run television was on the air again, and Venezuelans stayed tuned for the return of their strongman.

From the military base at Turiamo, where he had been in the custody of military officers, Mr. Chávez issued a written statement at 2:45 p.m. that was directed to ''the Venezuelan people, and whoever else may be interested.''

''I, Hugo Chávez Frias, president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,'' the statement read, ''have NOT resigned the legitimate powers given to me by the people.''

''The cabinet is back in place,'' said 60-year-old Miguel Reyes, one of the protesters who stood watching a parade of Chávez officials return to the presidential palace. Referring to Mr. Chávez, he added, ''We are waiting for the president to show up, and then we will go home.''

At least 18 people held in the basement of the compound since early this afternoon called themselves ''prisoners.'' One of them asked a reporter for help. And officials reported that Mr. Carmona was trading places with Mr. Chávez in military custody.

Watching a career as agriculture minister end after 24 hours, Raul de Armas said, ''We don't know what our situation is. I am very worried for the country -- anguished.''

At the end of a day shattered by protests, which often turned into violent confrontations with police, Venezuela's state-run television station, taken off the air after the interim government assumed power on Friday, restarted broadcasts under the control of Mr. Chávez's supporters. But programming was jammed several times, and occasionally went black.

A colonel in the national honor guard, who wore the red beret that became a signature of the Chávez government, announced that military forces aimed to reinstate ''powers legitimately guaranteed by the Constitution that have been violated.''

Earlier, responding to international pressure and eager to quell the growing protests at home, Mr. Carmona, former head of Venezuela's largest business association, broke hours of silence to offer his version of Mr. Chávez's fall from power. Mr. Carmona insisted that Mr. Chávez was safe and would soon be allowed to leave Venezuela. He announced that he would reinstall a National Assembly that he had dismantled 24 hours earlier, and he declared that his government would respect freedom of the press and all human rights.

''The physical well-being of ex-president Hugo Chávez Frias has been totally preserved and taken care of,'' Mr. Carmona said in an interview on CNN. ''He was in the custody of the armed forces, not under arrest. But in the next few hours he will leave the country in accordance with his wishes.''

Mr. Carmona acknowledged that he had had no direct contact with Mr. Chávez, saying his information about him came from the military. He repeated that it was the military that had announced Mr. Chávez's resignation. Describing the resignation, Mr. Carmona called it a ''formal announcement that was made before high military command.''

Still, in protests that erupted sporadically across the city and converged at the presidential offices and local television stations, Chávez loyalists demanded a fuller accounting. Some of the disturbances turned into violent confrontations with the police, transforming a quiet morning into a day plagued by fury and confusion. There were unconfirmed reports of three deaths.

The protests were not as large as the ones earlier this week that resulted in the end of the Chávez government. They were, however, emotional and intense. A lack of coverage in the national media to today's marches and about Mr. Chávez's fate inflamed the tension.

Waving placards reading ''Free Chávez,'' protesters blocked the wide main street in front of the presidential palace, shutting down traffic and heightening concerns about impending violence. Some protesters said they planned to destroy television stations, which they have accused of being controlled by corrupt oligarchs. The appearance of presidential guards on the top floor of an adjacent barracks, waving a large Venezuelan flag in approval of the protest, energized the demonstrators.

''What we want is our president; we want to know what they've done to him,'' said José Osvaldes, screaming on the street. ''There are people who do not have the courage to tell us what is happening.''

Carlos Duque, 41, said: ''You can't take someone who is democratically elected by the people, and then put in a dictatorship of convenience. We want to get back the president of the republic.''